http://www.nbc4.tv/news/10091227/detail.html
New Computer Program CopLink To Link LAPD Databases POSTED: 5:53 pm PDT October 16, 2006 LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Police Department will begin using a $1.3 million computer program in two months aimed at linking multiple databases while freeing up officers for other duties, it was announced Monday. CopLink will allow the department to target violent criminals by linking four of the department's databases -- including the booking and dispatch systems, the citations database and information compiled during field interviews -- providing ready access to information that would otherwise require a time-consuming search through each system. The department signed a contract agreeing to use the program two months ago, according to Robert Griffin, president of Knowledge Computing Corp., the Tucson-based company that licenses CopLink. Although the program is already being installed, the Los Angeles Police Commission and the City Council have not yet approved the contract, according to officials close to the project. "Providing officers with effective tools for driving down crime, thwarting gang activity and countering terrorist threats is critical to sustaining and improving on the results we've already achieved in Los Angeles," police Chief William Bratton said in a statement. "With CopLink in our arsenal, the LAPD will be able to combine the knowledge of our officers with powerful analytical, visualization and decision support tools to speed connecting suspects and associates with their crimes and getting them off the street faster." The department has tried for more than three years to purchase CopLink, but costs hampered the city from purchasing the computer program, which will cost about $110,000 annually to maintain. The system will likely be funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative grant program, according to Griffin and city officials. "This is a tool that all of the police agencies very much want to have because there's already such great cooperation regionally in Los Angeles," said City Councilman Jack Weiss, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee. "This will provide the ability to knit those close relations together." More than 300 law enforcement agencies use Cop Link, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is scheduled to start using the system next month,Griffin said. The sheriff's department is expected to link with the LAPD's database by the start of next year. Law enforcement agencies using the CopLink system in San Diego and Orange counties are already linked with each other, according to Griffin. "CopLink is a tactical and analytical tool that allows us to take information and mine that data to find leads and basically take bad guys off the streets," Griffin said. "It helps us find associations between crimes, and it's been proven to be very valuable tactically to fight crime." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
